MATHIS HAUG & BENOIT NOGARET

Here's to you Mr Watson 

A guitar duo from France, paying their dues  to Mr Doc Watson

Mathis & Benoit met twenty years ago while performing at concerts in the South of France. They discovered a common passion for acoustic guitar and authentic American music, and started playing together around the kitchen table, at parties with  friends and in cafés.
At that time Benoit worked as a postman, and took advantage of every available moment to improve his guitar skills, and played locally with various Rock & Blues projects. Mathis took to the road and played with his own bands and collaborated with major artists like the Moroccan singer Oum, Native American legend Pura Fé, French harp master JJ Milteau, Eric Bibb, Big Daddy Wilson, Angie Wells, Carla Bruni as a composer, musician and producer.

Whenever they had time between two tours, they warmed up their fingers working on the songs of Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly, Doc Watson, and others, mainly acoustic blues and folk-rock. It was much later that they found their common interest in country and bluegrass.  It was a revelation for both of them! Mathis took online lessons with Chris "Critter" Eldridge through the Sonic Junction website, and particularly appreciated the pedagogy of this master of flat-picking who teaches standards, fiddle tunes and country songs. Mathis convinced his buddy to work on some standards and little by little they learned all the nuances of the style.

Unfortunately American roots music is poorly represented in France, and the few musicians who are passionate about this style rarely have the opportunity to meet and exchange during jams and festivals. This is why our two friends play with so much passion, and have developed such a unique and personal sound.
While listening to Doc Watson's records, they realized that the artist had recorded most of the songs they worked on: Whiskey for Breakfast, Nashville Blues, Banks of Ohio, Little Sadie, Rock, Salt and Nails...they immersed themselves intensely in the music and biography of the North Carolina master, and for them it was an obvious choice: For their first joint recording after 25 years of playing around the kitchen table, they're releasing a tribute project to Doc Watson.

"Pick a song at random from the immense repertoire of traditional American music, and you're likely to hear a version of Doc’s. It was an obvious choice for us to revisit his songs, the pleasure of playing a familiar music, to open a dialogue with other musicians in the times of the internet and to make this legend known to a new generation" affirm Mathis Haug and Benoit Nogaret. 

The idea of paying tribute to Doc Watson is first and foremost the pleasure of playing his songs. Performing his repertoire allows them to introduce this little-known musician and to highlight the themes of  his songs: murder ballads, homesickness, love, alcohol, miner and hobo songs. All of Doc Watson's songs can be played in many different ways: on guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo...This is why they decided to invite Christian Séguret, a renowned bluegrass musician (who interviewed Doc himself ) to record two songs on fiddle and mandolin, the mandolin having belonged to Ralph Rinzler.

Here's to you Mr Watson, was recorded live in studio in early spring 2021, and our 2 musicians took pleasure in revisiting these 6 tracks while respecting Doc's spirit.
On Roll on Buddy, Worried Blues and The Cuckoo Bird, the acoustic guitars interact in response to Mathis's vocals, developing a unique sound that has been forged over the years of playing around the kitchen table, at family parties, and festivals. On the Murder Ballad Little Sadie, Benoit's guitar plays the soaring melodies and solos, while bringing tension to the unfolding murder story.
Liza Jane is one of those Good time songs that Doc loved to play to thrill his audience. The rare ballad, Rock, salt and nails (of which there is only a beautiful version available on the Web), tells of disillusion and disappointment in love and showcases Mathis’s soulful voice.